Today Gel warmly salutes mom and I, her smile being the only ray of sunshine on this gloomy fall day. If yesterday's events shook her, she is hiding it well. I know children are more resilient than adults, but I'm still impressed.
When arriving at the workshop, we meet up with Melodi. As the three of us are heading for our courtyard as usual, Ms Tarina intercepts us, her meaty arm baring the embrasure.
“It's getting a bit cold to stay outside, you'll come upstairs with me today” she dictates.
We are in no position to discuss and I'd rather by in a warmer room, seated on a chair, studying than outside in the cold on a simple mat. Melodi sighs ears dropping a bit, she is the most outdoorsy of us, but follows anyway.
Our new sand plates are put to good use, Ms Tarina firstly check that we aptly memorized our numbers, asking us one after another to draw the random number she announces us.
Our performances are satisfactory and she follows with some basic maths exercises. This time the girls fare better than before, using both their hands and a slate, their juvenile minds are now able to process more complex informations.
Ms Tarina is greatly pleased with our achievements and with midday approaching, I'm tempted to ask her about writing. But before I can make the query, she announces that today's session is over. Before adding with a suspicious smile :
“enough maths for today. How would you like to go out for a stroll ?”
Melodi comes back to life and wiggles on her chair, tail up in the air.
Our stout preceptor continues “I have to meet one of my supplier in the trade southern area. I'd like to take the three of you with me.”
She looks at us sternly : “BUT, I expect you to be on your best behaviour, this is no game and I will not tolerate any shenanigans” She focuses her gaze on each of us, but a little bit longer on Melodi. We all nod in agreement and as she awaits for more we voice a cacophonic consent “Yes Ms Tarina, we will behave/be nice/obey”.
She is satisfied by the show of submission, she is definitively a woman of power. I suspect she don't really expect any mischief from us, we've been around her for half a year now and have proven to be well behaved ones. Well except maybe for yesterday where we ended up fightint in a mud pit... Fine she's got a point.
We go downstairs and as the bosslady informs my mother of her intentions, I can see my mother's disapproval, but she cant voice it to her superior. Her eyes are sending bolts of threats to Gel and I (but mostly me) clearly meaning : you better not misbehave or there will be consequences...
I nod my understanding.
We are taken outside to a small roofless carriage, drawn by a single giant ostrich thing (they are tajos the common beast of burden in the city, these beasts are as strong as a workhorse, despite being smaller and leaner, I wonder if animals also have some chi ?).
The 3 of us kids are seated on the left side of the cart, Ms Tarina is sitting by herself in front of us. There is one of the seamstresses coming alongside us : a brown skinned, green eyed woman; an unusual skin tone, I've not seen it much around here. She's discreet and of few words, her name is Mangu.
Finally there is a coachman in front, an old grim looking bearded man, he doesn't speak, only nodding when miss Tarina gives him directions.
The southern district is as the name implies in the southern part of the city (thanks captain obvious), and is delimited by the main river (the Awanui, the great serpent) on one side and the second smaller stream flowing down the western part of the city (the Hoyirin, the silver stream).
At the southernmost part of the district there is the exterior wall, centred by swordhill.
The hill is a natural defensive point, crowned by a small fort and the walls extends from it on both sides. The external slope of the hill has been steeped to make it look like a huge wall to the outsiders and potentials besiegers. This is an impressive defensive structure, far bigger than any castles or walls I've seen on earth.
The southern gate, the spices gate, is right next to the fort at the foot of the hill.
The city walls are peculiarly tall, if I take the nearby houses as reference, the walls are about 50 meters tall and 20 meters wide at the top, larger at their base. They are made out of a black stone, making them look like a storm's rain curtain in the distance.
To have the walls cross over the river, there is a monumental stone arch, supported by 3 huge pillars rising from the waters where the river is narrowed. I say narrowed, but this is still more than a 100 m wide. Boats can sail freely under the tall arch, but I suspect the path can be closed anytime. Otherwise such a blatant hole in the defences would be exploited by any invader.
* * * * * * * * * * * *
The southern district is heavily trade oriented, there is a commercial dock, a bazaar and a caravanserai near the south gate. Streets are filled with stalls, shops, the shrieks of gulls and exotic smells (spices, some cinnamon and pepper like, I even catch a waft of coffee coming from a purple leaves stack).
I can see more non humans than ever around here: a few beastkin of various type (foxes, weasels, deer and bulls, but also a parrot looking one), some elves with their dark skin, silvery hair and lean silhouettes.
Dark skinned and brown skinned humans are also a common sight here. They are dressed with long coloured robes, wear wide straw hats and speak in a different language among them.
The city guards are patrolling ostensibly around, in their blue chain mails with spears at hand : This district is obviously wealthier and under better watch than our neighbourhood.
Our destination is a walled villa contiguous to a warehouse, midway between the spices gate and the river. The villa is quite luxurious, made out of bricks and white stones, there is a huge mosaic atop the main door representing a sailboat riding a wave of gold coins, pushed by a whirlwind.
Two burly onyx skinned men, armed with well whetted halberds, open the gates as they recognize our coachman. They exchange a stern salute.
Inside the walls is a decent sized garden with extravagant flowers still blooming in bright colors despite being late fall and a small fountain. Gel and Melodi are wide agape, their eyes fluttering around at a loss to choose where to land their attention. I'm getting self aware of our outfits, with our brown linen rough tunics, we really stick out of place.
We are to stand down our ride in front of a couple stairs leading inside the villa. A brown skinned servant comes forward to greet our teacher with a slight bow.
Before following him, Ms Tarina turns towards us, clasping her hands to catch the attention of Gel and Melodi. “A last warning : do not touch anything, do not speak unless asked to, stay by my side. You can stare as much as you want though.” she adds with a smile, the kids attention already scattering around.
The three of us hold hands, with Melodi in the middle and follow behind our mentor. Mangu rhe seamstress follows another servant, towards the warehouse.
The inside is less ostentatious, there are a few tapestries hung over the walls depicting exotic animals (a giant turtle with a flaming shell, a seadog (literally) baring shark like teeth and a snowflake bird melting above the turtle), the floor is covered in carpets with the colours grey and orange predominating, but little canvas or geometric patterns.
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We are led to a spacious room, lighted with a few crystals hanging from the ceiling casting a bright white light like LEDs, better than the yellowish one i've seen till now; but also having large glass windows (my first time seeing some).
There is a leather couch in the middle of the room, facing an armchair where the houseowner is sitting:
A bronze skinned gentleman with golden teeth beaming at each of his smiles. He is tall, fit, bare chested exposing some decent muscles and a scar on his left pectoral, and wears a coat made of bright green and red giant feathers. His manners are elegant, yet carries the assurance of true strength with each move, the man is an apex predator, a jaguar reigning supreme in this jungle: both enticing but also able to cut your head with a wag of his paw.
He stands up to welcome his guest, his coat opening like a peacock's tail flashy feathers making a rainbow fan behind him :
“ Miss Nakunaui” he says in a singing accent before adding things in a different language.
Our leader makes a curtsey of her own, but she looks bland and clumsy in comparison :“Typhoon Taonga” before speaking the same foreign tongue.
As they exchange a few words we can't understand in the chanting foreign speech, I take a look around.
The armchair the man was seating in is surrounded by two dog sized scarabs sporting beautiful iridescent shells, changing colour with every moves, when they rub their elytras it emits a fine tune, like someone playing frenetically on a xylophone. A sepia skinned servant is kneeled beside the chair, after a short order from our host he hurries in the adjacent room.
Miss Tarina leads us to the couch, she sits first and takes Gel on her lap, Melodi and I are to sit on both sides.
The merchant's gaze immediately focuses on the exposed Gel. He comes forward without a soun, his silky pants barely making a swish, his beryl eyes glistening with interest. As he gets closer and Gel gets more anxious, our mentor raises her hand::
“do not frighten her please, they are kids, easily startled.” this time in our mother tongue. She then lays a reassuring hand on Gel's shoulder, shielding her from the man's greed.
Our host stopsa feet away from his prey, assimilating the information, rubbing his chin, but still watching Gel with much envy. He then puts a knee down to the floor to lower himself at eye level with Gel before softly speaking with his chanting intonation
“Fear not, touched one. Never would Taonga dares to hurt a god marked one. Please allow this faithful one to touch your head” He smiles and gold gleams from his mouth.
Gel is uneasy, but trapped on the plump tights of our boss. Miss Tarina tightens her grasp on the girl's shoulder to comfort her and restrain her from running away. This must have been some kind of signal because Gel nods.
The man extends a big hand and gives three gentle pats on Gel's head. He then stands back, staring into her eyes, Gel raises her head to stare back at him with curiosity and wariness.
He erupts in a raucous laughter. “Oh Oh Oh ! Thank you Ms Nakunaui, may Akolaï's unending vigor be imparted to me”, he says with a carnal smile and the hand he patted Gel with rubbing his crotch in a suggestive way.
Gel blushes at the vulgarity, which is both cute and worrying: she is a bit young to understand the man's meaning, what did Ms Tarina taught her yesterday ?
He goes back to his seat as the servant comes back with a trail carrying a fragrant tea and a plate full of cakes and fruits. He makes a gesture towards us and we are all served a cup of a red tea smelling like vanilla and a slice of cake (cake, my first cake in this world, the cake wasn't a lie).
After taking a sip of tea the man goes on “Why did you bring so many young ones today ? The gifted girl I understand, but what about the other two ? Don't tell me you have 3 blessed ones ?” he inquires, a brow arched up.
Our teacher laugh elegantly, sending a small tremor down her meaty frame. A shaken Gel almost spills some tea. “I wouldn't dare make such a claim. The boy has a talent in calculus, I though he would distract you, the cat girl is deft and also already knows basic maths. I guess I just wanted to show off a bit.” she says with tease.
I do not really dig being called “the boy” but I understand that I 'm not of enough importance to be named here.
Our host turns his interest towards Mel and I. “How old are you little ones ?”
“three springs” we both answer at the same time. This seems to surprise the man quite a bit.
“not yet named but already counting, rare indeed for commoners. You are raising them well Miss Tarina, may Dard keep them till naming day” he pats the scar on his chest. Our guardian nods to that, taking a sip of tea as cheer.
So that's why we are just “the boy” or “the girl”, to strangers we are still “unnamed children”,
He then starts asking Melodi some simple problems. My comrade fares well on additions, but substraction are her demise (as always, I really need to find a way for her to grasp the concept), she could have answered with the help of pebbles or our slates, but mental calculation when stressed out and confronted by a stranger in such an exotic entourage was too overwhelming for her young mind.
Next comes my turn. I catch the full of hope gaze of my tutor, silently cheering me to do my best on.
Typhoon Taonga starts with simple problems again, mostly trade themed. Simple additions and subtractions are plain sailing for me. The difficulty increase as he starts to include some multiplications with more operations (I sell 4 crates valuing 8 iron each, but must pay a 2 iron taxe, how much do I have left ? The answer is quite easy : 30 irons, but I have to then convert it in hexadecimal to answer)
“a hex and eia (14)” I finally answers without using any joints or other support, surprising him greatly. When he starts asking me for divisions I just give up after the easiest ones, I do not have enough training in this hexadecimal system and conversions are just too tiresome, if I had a slate I would comply. So I just say “I need some writing tools for that”
My answer fazes him a little: I did not say I wasn't able to do the maths, just that I needed some support.
He then says something to Ms Tarina in his foreigner tongue.
“He is not for sale !” she answers with annoyance “he is a shielded one, not a serf, nor a slave of Ururu !”
The housemaster raises his hand in apology and flashes a golden smile, his face showing some disappointment “fine, fine. Don't blame me for asking, you come exposing your treasures, it's only expected that I would ask for the price tag.” his chanting accent is far less enticing to me now... I don't want to become a slave.
He adds something I cant understand, yet my mentor's answer enlighten me on his inquiry “No, I doubt his parents would sell him, Ururian's slavers don't have a good reputation around here”
He asks something else and this time my teacher takes some time before answering
“No, I doubt you could hire him either. As I said, the reputation your fellows precedes you. His parents aren't in as dire straits as to trust him with your kind for a few coins.” She almost apologizes (huh, we are talking about selling me to a slaver, don't apologize for my parents not complying with that).
He reluctantly let go :
“So you just get to flaunt your pupils in front of me, but I can't profit from it, what a tease you are. Fine let's get down to our trade. The kids can go to the garden in the meanwhile, unless you want them to check our sum total ?” he jokes, with a sly smile on his face.
Miss Tarina nods at us. “you can go outside”, “you did well” she adds in a hushed tone with a wink.
The servant (or slave?) takes us to a low table lying in the grass, we are seated on lavish cushions before getting served another round of vanilla tea and fruits.
“it was worth the trip, I never had cake before” says Melodi while lazily stretching. She is lightly purring while sipping tea and enjoying our surroundings : a nice garden, with palm like trees covering us. There is a warm breeze around here, conflicting with the city's colder temperature. Maybe this is my first sight of mundane magic applied to daily life: air conditioning.
“were you aware of what was going to happen ?” I ask Gel. Seeing her behaviour I am suspecting she had been warned beforehand about what might happen here. Otherwise she would have been more scarred, I know how shy she can be.
“Kind of. Teacher said she would show me that some people value my eyes highly” she answers while looking at me. Some pride glistening amongst her amethysts eyes.
I pat her head “may Akolaï's vigor be imparted to me” I say, imitating the bronze trader's prayer.
I do not rub my crotch afterward though. It is still enough to make her blush and try to slap my hand, I manage to avoid the retaliation, she now pouts at me.
The servant then brings us one of the dog-beetle to play with. The creature is smart enough to play ball and respond to some simple orders in the foreigner's tongue. At the servant's behest, it rolls over, jumps or turns on itself, it's shell casting brilliant colours all around. On demand it can also produce the xylophone tune again and almost some coherent melody.
The three of us are enchanted, the girls spend the rest of their time playing with it while I sip on my tea, trying to learn the words used by the servant.
When Ms Tarina comes pick us up she has a satisfied smile on her face. We do not get to meet our host on our way out. We ride the coach to the nearby warehouse to load a few bolts of silk, mostly blue and green ones. And ride back to Tarina's workshop.
I've never seen silk in this world before, I carefully touch the fabric before asking the bosslady “what is this ? Was it the reason you took us with you ?”
She is smiling at me, yet I can infer a hint of guilt behind her gaze. “This is silk, a rare good from afar. As naming day approaches, I must be ready for the upcoming orders. Free citizens and blades will want a special outfit for their child's ceremony. I mostly deal with citizens thought, blades rarely comes to my tailor shop.” she's a bit sour at the thought.
I understand that she doesn't want us to expect getting something made out of silk for ourselves. Which I somewhat wanted, a change from the itchy linen would be welcome.
“Typhoon Taonga is one the few traders from Ururu that is allowed to trade silk in this city. He is a blade level magician, but choose to remain a merchant.” her eyes strays around.
“As you saw he is quite fond of rare and unusual things. He is a traveller at heart and has the power to live his dream” she sounds both envious and frightened.
“Thank you for taking us with you, we ate some tasty things today” says Melodi patting her belly, her eyes turned in half moons of satisfaction.
Ms Tarina chuckles at her before petting the cat's ears “It was my pleasure. The three of you were a great help today. Taonga was in a really good mood and I got myself a nice discount. I'll have to think about a reward later.”
We all paw the ground in excitement.
“Especially you little Gel. As you've seen, some will welcome you with open arms. The pantheon has many worshippers, each with their own way to follow the gods.” she caress the girl's face before playing with her hair. “But be careful: unwanted attention can also bring harm. Do not despise your gifts, but do not flaunt them needlessly either.” she lectures.
A wise advice, I concur.
Gel nods with newfound determination in her eyes.
I'm glad Miss Tarina was here for Gel. I don't mind if she used us along the way for her own benefit, in the end she helps us more than often and is always kind to us.
I just hope the magician wont enslave any of us on a whim.